Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance: Essays on the Shishuo xinyu

Author:
Jack W. Chen

Publication date:
March 2021

Publisher:

Harvard Asia Center

Abstract:

Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is a study of the Shishuo xinyu, the most important anecdotal collection of medieval China—and arguably of the entire traditional era. In a set of interconnected essays, Jack W. Chen offers new readings of the Shishuo xinyu that draw upon social network analysis, performance studies, theories of ritual and mourning, and concepts of gossip and reputation to illuminate how the anecdotes of the collection imagine and represent a political and cultural elite. Whereas most accounts of the Shishuo have taken a historical approach, Chen argues that the work should be understood in literary terms.

At its center, Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance is an extended meditation on the very nature of the anecdote form, both what the anecdote affords in terms of representing a social community and how it provides a space for the rehearsal of certain longstanding philosophical and cultural arguments. Although each of the chapters may be read separately as an essay in its own right, when taken together, they present a comprehensive account of the Shishuo in all of its literary complexity.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

The Title of the Text

The Structure and Composition of the Text

Anecdote and History

Individualism and Typology

The Shishuo and “Pure Conversation”

Overview of Chapters

1. A Textual History of the Shishuo xinyu

The Shi Jingyin and Liu Xiaobiao Commentaries

Liu Yiqing’s Biography

The Shishuo in the Bibliographic Treatises of the Official Histories

The Shishuo in the Tang Dynasty

The Shishuo in Song Dynasty Encyclopedias and Bibliographic Writings

Wang Zao 汪藻 (1079–1154) on the Shishuo

The Dong Fen, Lu You, and Yuan Jiong Editions

Modern Editions of the Shishuo

Conclusion: On Medieval Textuality

2. On Social Networks

The Shishuo as Network

Six Degrees of Separation, or a Walk through the Network

First Degree: Xu Zhi and Chen Fan

Second Degree: Chen Fan and Li Ying

Third Degree: Cai Yong, Sun Chuo, and Wang Xizhi

Fourth Degree: Wang Xizhi and Xie An

Fifth Degree: Xie An, Wang Xianzhi, Liu Jin, and Huan Xuan

Sixth Degree: Huan Xuan, Huan Xiu, and Madame Yu

Conclusion: Network and Anecdote

3. On Gossip and Reputation

Defining Gossip and Reputation

Gossip and Anecdote: Four Stories about Hua Xin

Knowing Others and Being Known: Chu Pou’s Silence

The Mingshi or “Gentlemen of Repute”

Conclusion: The Anxiety of the Second-Rate

4. On Praise and Insult

On Praise and Appraisal

The Politics of Praise

Virtuosity, Aptness, and Inadequacy

Theories of Insult

Taking Liberties with Pronouns

Three Stories about Sun Chuo

Unintended Offense

Conclusion: The Economy of Reputation

5. On Competition and Composure

Three Stories about Zhong Hui

Conversation as Social Competition

The Aesthetics of Composure

Xie An: Calling Back the Recluse

Xie An Keeps His Cool

Conclusion: Wang Dun Goes to the Bathroom

6. On Ritual and Mourning

Mourning and Sincerity in the Li ji

The Sincerity of Mourning

Friendship and Mourning

A Coda

Conclusion: The View from across the River